Mid-Hudson named a world-class travel destination by National Geographic

Anyone who lives in the Hudson Valley knows it's true; now it's official: The region has been named by the editors of National Geographic Traveler Magazine as one of 2013's 20 best travel destinations in the world.

Anyone who lives in the Hudson Valley knows it's true; now it's official: The region has been named by the editors of National Geographic Traveler Magazine as one of 2013's 20 best travel destinations in the world.

That's right — in the world. The magazine's list includes a mix of places familiar and mysterious: Grenada and Bodo. Kyoto and Malawi. Cape Breton and ... Memphis.

The article describing the Hudson Valley cites the region's cultural pedigree, ranging from the Clearwater Festival (and its revered founder, Pete Seeger) to Storm King Art Center to humbler sites such as "wonderfully weird and artsy Woodstock, where "indie performers and music icons rub elbows and grab crusty loaves at Bread Alone Bakery."

The story charts the course of the region's many mom-and-pop shops, its spectacular vistas and the food legacy that has developed in the wake of Culinary Institute graduates "too enchanted to leave Hyde Park." Those Hudson Valley-trained gourmands create world-class restaurants that, in turn, attract refugees from New York City who realize they've happened on a green and pleasant land that features apartments that are bigger and cheaper than they'll ever find in the city. Once here, they find a picturesque place of "u-pick" wildflower fields, and organic farm stands where 'chain' is a four-letter word."

All of which comes as no shock to those in the Hudson Valley know.

Ward Todd, executive director of the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce, had a five-letter word to describe the region's selection:

"Great!"

He said he was "glad to see the editors of National Geographic Traveler have recognized what we've known for all these years."

In New Paltz, Michael Smith, president of the New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he was surprised "only in the sense that's it's an honor."

The community is considered the region's tourism gateway because of its location near the New York State Thruway and what Smith characterized as two "tourism anchors stores," The Rocking Horse Ranch in the southeastern part of the county and Mohonk Mountain House, west of the Thruway.